1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to games normally played in an arcade environment, and more particularly to such games played by directing a playing piece towards a target and seeing the results of game play displayed on a rotatable wheel.
2. Background of the Related Art
Roll-down games have been played for many years in arcade environments. These games usually include a ramp and one or more targets at the end of the ramp. A player rolls a ball down the ramp towards a desired target, and a game score is displayed on a scoring display based upon the player""s success.
In U.S. Pat. No. 810,299, O. E. Pettee describes a game in which a ball is rolled down a plane towards an upright target pin. When the pin is impacted, a motor activates to spin a dial. When the dial stops spinning, it indicates the player""s score.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,141,580, S. E. White describes a game in which a ball is tossed into holes marked in various time intervals. A spinning dial hand is stopped from rotating by the amount of time indicated by the hole that the ball is tossed into. The object of the game is to make the dial stop at a chosen character or numeral on the dial face.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,926,915, F. D. Johns describes a skee-ball game in which a ball is rolled towards a scoring drum and in which tickets are dispensed to the player by an electrically operated automatic ticket dispenser.
Roll-down games of the prior art, while enjoyable, are rather simple games and, as such, often lead to rapid player boredom. This is undesirable in an arcade environment where revenues are directly related to the continuous, repeated use of the games.
The present invention provides an apparatus and method for progressively scoring contributions from multiple individual game units, and also provides an apparatus and method for an individual roll-down game: including a spinning wheel. These improvements add excitement and complexity to the game, which tends to prolong player involvement.
The multi-station game apparatus includes two or more individual units of a game of skill connected to a progressive scoring apparatus. As players operate individual game units, the units contribute numerically to a progressive display. Each individual game unit has the ability to dispense a non-monetary award, such as tickets, baseball cards, etc., to a player based on the score achieved by that player. When a player of a game unit accomplishes a predetermined task on an individual game unit, he or she receives a non-monetary award based upon the progressive score. This bonus award adds excitement to the game.
A roll-down game unit of the present invention includes a ramp, targets at the end of the ramp, and a wheel associated with the targets. Preferably, the targets are apertures provided near the end of the ramp. If a ball is rolled down the ramp into a certain aperture, that aperture might be predetermined to rotate the wheel a certain distance clockwise. A different aperture might be predetermined to rotate the wheel a specific distance counterclockwise, or not rotate the wheel at all.
The score of the game is based upon the wheel""s position. If the wheel is rotated and stops at a number displayed on the wheel, the score might increase by that number. The wheel might display a xe2x80x9cBankruptxe2x80x9d position, which would reduce the score to zero. A further variation of the game would include an award dispenser, which would dispense a non-monetary award based upon the final score once the game was over.
The wheel adds complexity and interest to an otherwise simple roll-down game. This again increases player involvement with the game and increases the revenue produced by the game.
These and other advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art after reading the following descriptions and studying the various figures of the drawings.